


tearing my fear apart

by helsinkibaby



Series: Tennessee Whiskey [11]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, F/M, Het, Musicians, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 18:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7651192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caitlin reads some comments on the Internet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tearing my fear apart

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: hurt/comfort  
> Prompt: Any, any, sometimes an old song can make you smile even when you don't want to.

"No, no, no."

Cisco took the iPad from Caitlin's hands, leaving her staring up at him, mouth agape. "Cisco, I was..."

He didn't let her finish, shaking his head and moving away from her, putting the iPad into his backpack in the corner. She didn't try to stop him, even though it was her machine, and he didn't even blink as he turned back to her, zipping the backpack with finality. "I know what you were doing," he said. "You were reading the comments on the videos that went up from last night's show and from the look on your face, you're about to have a nutty." He wagged his finger from side to side, a teasing smile on his face. "You're new at this, I know, but rule number one? Never read the comments." 

Except that from the look on his face, he knew what the comments said. "Did you read them?" He looked down, which she took as a yes and she refrained from pointing out that she'd read comments before and they'd been fine. These on the other hand... " _Well, we know how she got her job. Wonder what Joe's doing after the show, oh wait, no I don't_." Her cheeks burned at the memory of seeing those words written down, her stomach twisted at saying them out loud. "And those are the nicer ones." The ones that she could stomach uttering. Some of the rest of them... she shuddered. 

"Look." Cisco's voice was kind as he sat down on the piano bench beside her. "Just because some internet bozos decide to make some crappy comments about you and Joe, that doesn't mean anything. You know it's not like that." 

Caitlin ran her hands over her face, let her elbows rest on her knees. "I know," she said quietly. "I just... I hate people thinking that Joe's the kind of guy..." She stopped talking when Cisco's jaw dropped, his face a mixture of amusement and delight. 

"You're worried about defending his honour?" He laughed. "That's adorable." 

"Shut up." She shoved his shoulder and he rocked to the side, still laughing. 

"Look, all I'm saying is, if it's his honour you're worried about? You should read the second page of comments." He waggled his eyebrows, his smile a touch on the filthy side. "You guys have fans. People ship you." 

Caitlin frowned. "I have no idea what you mean." 

"Like Mulder and Scully, Grissom and Sara, Rick and Michonne..." He was getting into it but that still wasn't helping Caitlin, who heard a list of names and not much else. "Ok, we are so catching you up on _The Walking Dead_." He shook his head, lips pursed in disgust. "There are... people... on the Internet who think you and Joe should be a couple. They obviously don't know that you already are, but they think you should be. And they're writing some rather..." He shifted on his seat. "Interesting? Yeah, that's a good word, interesting comments to support their theory." It was his turn to shudder, pressing his fingers to the side of his head and squeezing, like he was trying to force something out. "Images I never wanted to think about. Ev-er." He put several extra syllables into the word, adding another theatrical shudder for effect. 

Reading between the lines, Caitlin was, if anything, even more appalled. "There are people who..."

"Like I say." Cisco's voice was grim. "Don't read the comments." 

"Sound advice." Both of them turned at the sound of Joe's voice and Cisco stood up straight away. 

"She's having a nutty," he told Joe. "She read the comments." 

"I heard." Even though he was talking to Cisco, Joe didn't take his eyes off Caitlin. "Iris told me." 

Cisco looked between the two of them, then clapped his hands. "Well, I know when I'm not needed. Boss, rehearsal here in an hour?" 

Joe nodded and Cisco grabbed his backpack and ran. "Cisco's right, you know," Joe said as he walked over to Caitlin, sitting down beside her. "You shouldn't read that stuff."

"It's the first time I've ever seen anything like that," Caitlin told him quietly, leaning into him as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I never thought..." Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. "I just wanted to sing. I never thought people would take this... us... and make it sound so..." The only word that came to mind was "sordid" but she didn't want to say it out loud. 

"Caitlin, people are gonna say what they want to say," Joe told her. "We can't do anything about that... all we can do is just keep doing what we do."

She tried to smile. "You make it sound so easy." 

"Oh, it ain't easy." His smile was a lot easier, a lot more genuine. "But you know what I do when it gets rough?" She didn't, lifted one eyebrow in question and he stood up, taking her by the hand and pulling her up, pulling her close to him. "I dance." 

She laughed as he steered her around the stage, resting her head on his shoulder. At first, he was humming a tune, more to himself than her, but as they danced, he moved into singing and she smiled as she realised what it was. "The Way You Look Tonight" had long been one of her favourites, but she'd never heard him sing it before. Lifting her head, she looked up, looked into his eyes and she shivered as she realised that he was looking down at her, that he was singing just to her. 

He sang every word of the song to her and when he reached the last couple of lines, goosebumps broke out on her skin. He didn't stop though, kept on singing and she knew that he meant every word. 

So she did what, only a few minutes ago, she couldn't imagine doing. 

She smiled, and she meant it. 

And when she whispered, "I love you too," just before she kissed him, she meant that as well. 


End file.
